Covid: exceptional financial assistance for the self-employed and self-entrepreneurs

Self-employed workers and self-employed entrepreneurs in the hotel, restaurant, nightclub, events and travel agency sectors will benefit from "exceptional financial assistance", the amount of which is to be determined in the coming days.

A reduction in social security contributions

At the end of January, tourism and events professionals, as well as VTC and cab drivers, demonstrated in front of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance to demand aid for the 5th wave of Covid.

To meet their expectations, the government has announced a reduction in social security contributions for December and January, depending on the specific characteristics of their status. More specifically, self-employed workers in sectors S1 and S1 bis who lost between 30% and 65% of their sales in December 2021 and January 2022 will be able to deduct from their income for the first quarter of 2022 half of the sales they made during this period. Those who have lost more than 65% of their sales will be able to deduct the full amount of their December and January sales.

Sectors S1 and S1 bis include hotels, bars, restaurants, travel agencies, sports clubs, museums, casinos, live entertainment and film production.

 

Payment of "exceptional financial assistance

Self-employed workers and auto-entrepreneurs whose business has been penalized by the 5th wave will soon receive "exceptional financial assistance".

" Its amount has yet to be calibrated ," explained Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Minister Delegate for SMEs, on January 26.

To benefit, those concerned can apply on theUrssaf, Sécurité sociale des independants and Auto entrepreneur websites. Assistance for December and January will be paid by the CPSTI (Conseil de la protection sociale des travailleurs indépendants).

These two announcements - the reduction in social security contributions for December 2021 and January 2022, and the granting of exceptional financial assistance - meet the expectations of industry professionals. Indeed, at the event, which brought together professionals mainly from the tourism and events sectors, Hind Elidrissi, spokeswoman for the "neo-syndicat" indépendants.co, asserted that until now " even in sectors that benefit from aid, the self-employed have been excluded from allState aid".

 

These measures have been announced in the run-up to the adoption of a bill to help the self-employed. In particular, the bill provides better protection in the event of bankruptcy. In the event of bankruptcy, all the personal assets of the professional concerned will be protected, not just his or her main residence. Other measures concerning unemployment insurance and the cost of optional insurance could be definitively adopted in February.